VP9 Video Hardware RTLs

WebM's G2 VP9 Decoder IP is the latest addition to our family of hardware
IP products for multimedia system-on-chip designs. G2 is the first decoder IP
to implement VP9 in hardware, delivering next-generation performance and
power efficiency, and enabling up to 4K (2160p 60FPS) resolution playback on
smart TVs, PCs and post-PC consumer devices.

As with our VP8 hardware IPs, G2 is currently available to
semiconductor companies having firm plans to ship VP9-supporting products.
A written, no-cost agreement is required. Please complete the form
here to learn more.

Architecture

The G2 VP9 decoder uses a completely new hardware architecture. A majority of
its hardware modules are designed in C++ and converted to RTL using Calypto's
Catapult C high-level synthesis tool. This higher abstraction level makes
design implementation and verification much faster and cleaner than in a
traditional RTL design flow. Nevertheless, G2's top level is hand-written RTL,
making IP integration straightforward.

This G2 block diagram depicts the new architecture:

SoC-level integration of G2 is done in the same way as our VP8 IP products. G2
integrates into AXI bus architecture, implementing the advanced transaction
features introduced in the AXI 4.0 specification. All required SRAM instances
are combined under a single SRAM wrapper for ease of integration.

G2 includes a simple API to integrate the decoder into common multimedia
frameworks such as Android MediaCodec, V4L2, OpenMAX and others.
Accompanying software and driver code is very lightweight, and the load on
host CPUs is insignificant -- regardless of content bitrate or resolution.

Features

G2 supports the following features:

Decoding of VP9 bitstreams with YCbCr 4:2:0 color format

8-bits per color channel

Maximum decodable frame resolution: 4096 x 2304 pixels

Output frame formats:

Reference frame: YCbCr4:2:0 Semi-planar 4x4 tiled format

Post-processed output frame: YCbCr4:2:0 raster scan format

SoC connectivity:

64/128 bit AXI master

AXI, AHB or APB slave

Configurable endianness

Performance and Area

WebM G2 enables 4K (2160p) playback on high-end consumer devices. The design
is scalable to meet up to 2160p@60fps decode requirements with a single core,
minimizing the silicon area and decoding latency. While actual performance is
dictated by the target SoC design parameters, here are a few G2 key
parameters: